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A new tyrant in the opioid lineage is ascending the throne in the U.S.: fentanyl is the crown jewel of the epidemic, and the very analgesic that killed Prince and King of Pop, Michael Jackson.

Fentanyl is 50-100 times more potent than morphine and 25-50 times more potent than heroin, according to a recent statement by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). A lethal dose of heroin is equivalent to about 30 milligrams while a 3-milligram dose of fentanyl is all it takes to kill an average-sized adult male.

Lewis Nelson, MD, medical toxicologist and emergency physician at NYU’s School of Medicine, told Forbes that what makes the drug more potent than other opioids is how quickly and tightly it binds to the μ-opioid receptors in the brain.

In the hands of trained professionals—and with laboratory-grade equipment—this makes fentanyl an effective anesthetic. In fact, the drug has a relatively wide therapeutic index, or range within which the drug is both effective and safe.

In the wrong hands, fentanyl is perhaps the biggest concern beleaguering the addiction treatment field today. Who are the players responsible?

HEALERS

American healthcare practitioners are inadvertently mass-producing opioid addicts at an alarming rate. Patients are being overprescribed opioids, only to have them withheld or become too expensive to procure. With an addiction in place, these individuals are increasingly turning to heroin–a shift that’s created an epidemic of heroin use in whole new groups of people.

De novo use by the curious is always going to be a reality, and that’s not something the DEA can feasibly manage. Stopping the other addicts that form, however, happens by improving the way we practice medicine. Changing our irresponsible prescribing practices would prevent many more addictions than any other avenue.

DEALERS

For dealers, heroin is as hard to produce as ever, involving a lengthy growth, extraction, conversion, and transportation process.

Fentanyl is so much easier on dealers because it’s a synthetic opioid, and its potency per unit means that volumes are much easier to transport. Fentanyl for street sale often seems to be made in China and imported to the U.S. through Mexico, so a more cost-effective mode of transportation—a plane and a car, say—is more attractive than a boat and a truck.

Not all customers come by fentanyl intentionally–many are in the market for heroin or cocaine, but these are now increasingly cut with fentanyl without the buyer’s knowledge. Why? It’s cheaper than either drug, and much stronger. In the worst cases, the buyer is unwittingly procuring pure fentanyl.

Overdoses are preposterously common because the dose is relatively uncontrolled with street fentanyl. Worse yet, heroin and fentanyl look identical—with drugs purchased on the street, you’re playing a game of Russian Roulette.

Making big changes in life doesn’t have to be scary. Change is empowering. If you are ready to get sober, you are already making changes in your thinking and your willingness. Here are some more tips.

Remain Grateful

Changes are a test to our ability to be grateful, especially when that change might involve detoxing from drugs and alcohol. Suffering through the symptoms of drug and alcohol withdrawal leaves nothing to be grateful for. Feeling sick and miserable, craving drugs and alcohol, is a test to patience as well as gratitude. Focusing on gratitude is important for creating perspective and maintaining motivation. By staying grateful, you can stay positive, which will help you fight the negativity trying to convince you to relapse. Every symptom of withdrawal is a sing that your body is fighting hard to get clean. You’re fighting hard to get clean because you’ve made the life changing decision to get sober and leave mind altering substances behind. After this period of struggle, you don’t have to go through detox again and life is going to get better than you know.

Allow Yourself To Be Vulnerable

Vulnerability is often mistaken for weakness. To be vulnerable can be a good thing when it comes to your emotions. Vulnerability is not weakness, it is actually a sign of strength. Making big changes in your life like choosing to get sober is difficult when you are hard-headed and unwilling to take a risk. There are a lot of “could’s” and “what-if’s” when it comes to getting sober, like, I could relapse, and, what if I can’t stay sober? Vulnerability helps you act authentically to know it is worth trying. More importantly, it is worth succeeding.

Rely On Your Safety Network

Nobody says you have to go through big changes alone. Many people are lucky enough to have a support network of safe friends and family members who are there for encouragement and motivation. Sadly, there are some people who break the ties with their friends and family due to the destructive ways they act in addiction. Family healing is possible and frequently happens in recovery. Whether you have one close friend or a team of 100 people cheering you on, making big changes in your life needs the support of others. Friends, family, doctors, therapists, strangers on the street- you need all the support you can get.

Remember to keep breathing and take it one step at a time. If you are ready to get sober and make changes in your life, Harmony Place is here to help. Our residential treatment programs are designed to meet each client where they are and help them create a personalized plan of treatment to meet their goals in recovery. For a private consultation and more information on our full continuum of care, call us today: 1-855-652-9048

Spirituality is a life changing part of recovery for many people. We are encouraged to grow spiritually as a way to create meaning and bring peace into our lives. At times, we may slip spiritually and not work toward progress anymore.

You aren’t feeling as trusting as you used to

Part of the relationship you build with your higher power is learning how to trust that your higher power is taking care of you. Many people develop an idea of a higher power that has a plan for them. People take comfort in believing that everything is happening for a reason, on a schedule, on time, that is beyond their conception. The truth is, there are many forces in the universe which stem beyond our human conception. Our faith in a higher power means we trust that everything is going to be okay, especially in moments when nothing feels okay. When we start to doubt that we really do have a higher power, we start to think nothing is okay. When we start to think nothing is okay, we feel like we can’t trust our conception of a higher power anymore. Consequently, we start to feel unsure in other areas of our life.

You are feeling more resentful than normal

Resentments are considered to be a number one offender in recovery. People who are resentful are not able to be forgiving, to themselves and to others. Holding grudges is like holding toxic waste. We think by being angry with others and withholding our forgiveness that we are doing them a disservice and hurting them in some way. Unfortunately, the only person we are hurting is ourselves. For many people their spiritual beliefs include forgiveness. They believe that their higher power is all forgiving. In being forgiven, we can forgive others, and forgive ourselves. When we are less spiritually involved,we start holding resentments against others, mostly because we start to hold them against ourselves.

You are being more judgmental than you usually are

Who are we to judge others? As addicts and alcoholics, we’ve learned not to judge much. We, and most people we know, have gone to great lengths to get high or drunk and done things while high or drunk that we have carried a lot of shame about. We have a very serious saying in recovery: We are not saints. Remember that everyone is working hard to keep growing. Judgment is a sign that we are becoming entitled in our spiritual beliefs and losing sight of our humility, thinking ourselves to be better than others.

Spiritual work is part of the way we encourage clients to start defining themselves for themselves as individuals in recovery. We believe in the right of self-determination. You are capable of making good choices in your life. Let us show you how. For a private assessment and more information, call us today at: 1-855-652-9048

Thankfully for mindfulness and meditation, there are many apps for that. Popular apps like Headspace and 10% Happier are short mindful meditation series to start your day on the mindful foot. One of the first things you should do in the morning is focus on your breathing and creating a state of mindful calm. Mindfulness meditation doesn’t have to be complicated in any way. The basics of mindfulness meditation are so simple that anyone can do them. Most mindfulness meditations include finding a comfortable position, closing the eyes, and taking deep breaths, shifting the attention toward the breath. Noticing, paying attention, and becoming aware are part of mindfulness. Start by paying attention to the breath. Notice the way your stomach expands and contracts to meet the breath and how your chest rises and falls. With each exhale see if you can become aware of how different parts in your body are relaxing. Try, with your mind, to scan through your body and notice where there is any tension. Send the energy of your breath to that area and notice if it relaxes. As you continue to breathe, become aware of your thoughts. Mindfulness also includes practicing non-judgment. Try not to judge your thoughts but just notice them, without paying too much attention to them. Continue to breathe and shift your focus back to your breath, then to your body. You’ll notice that you’ve been in a deeper state than you realized as you start to wiggle your fingers and toes to come back to center. Set an intention for bringing this energy into the rest of your day.

Incorporate Mindfulness Into Your Morning Routines: When you brush your teeth, brush your hair, make your breakfast, get dressed, and do all the other things you do in the morning, apply mindfulness. Notice your movements and how routine some things might feel. Focus on your breathing and bring your awareness into the present moment of what you are doing. How does your toothpaste really taste? How often do you pay attention to the way you get dressed?

Mindfully Choose What You Do First: We are prone to getting on our phones right when we wake up because for many people, it is an alarm clock. When you turn the alarm off see if you can take a mindful moment to choose what you are going to do next. Is the best use of your energy to scroll through social media, check your email, or go flipping through a bunch of different apps? Make the first thing you do opening up a meditation app and getting into a zone of mindfulness for the day.

Drink A Glass Of Water: Water and mindfulness have a lot to do with one another. First, your body needs hydration when it wakes up. Drinking a full 8 ounce glass of water is highly recommended. You’ll find it is easier to meditate when you aren’t focusing on how dry your mouth and throat are or how thirsty you feel. You can apply mindfulness to your morning cup of water. Notice how cool and refreshing the water feels and how your body reacts to the hydration.

Harmony Place incorporates mindfulness and meditation into a fully comprehensive program of care. Our residential treatment programs are created to meet each client exactly where they are and help them develop a plan to reach their goals in recovery and in life. For a private consultation and information on our programs, call us today: 1-855-652-9048

Treatment is a delicate time for you and everyone around you. It is easy to act appropriately and easy to act inappropriately. Here are some pointers.

Don’t brag about how “good” of an addict and alcoholic you were: Euphoric recall is a dangerous practice in treatment. Everyone in treatment is no more than a few days to a few weeks to a few months away from the last time they were drunk and/or high. Talking about the good old days and how good you were at being an addict or an alcoholic is not actually proof you were any good at it at all. Instead it is a sign that you are still in denial about the severity of your problems.

Don’t be the person who holds up the van:Getting into the van to go on an outing for an offsite activity like a twelve step meeting is a loved part of treatment. When you’re the person being late, not showing up on time, holding back people, you’re harming your won and other’s recovery. Socializing and networking in recovery is important. Having fun in recovery is important.

Don’t be the chronic complainer about being in treatment: In company settings, you might hear managers talking about not complaining with other employees because it lowers company morale. Going to treatment is not like going to a job. Going to treatment is for learning how to stay sober because it is a matter of life or death. Lowering the morale in treatment by focusing on the negativity or talking about how much better it would be to be drinking or using could be deeply triggering for other people, including your own brain. Experiencing cravings in treatment can lead to a decision to relapse. Relapse never guarantees a return to treatment.

Ways You Should Act In Treatment:

Take showers and brush your teeth:Sure, your hygiene is just your business. However, people have to be roommates with you, sit in group with you, sit next to you in a van, workout with you, and talk to you. Poor hygiene will be noticed by the therapeutic staff and if you don’t take care of yourself, you will likely have consequences for that.

Show up to group and your appointments on time: In a residential treatment setting, it will be hard not to be on time because staff members will be floating around, directing you to where you need to go. Your time in therapy and treatment or meeting with a practitioner for a healing treatment is important. When you are late, you are cutting back on your time for healing. Show up on time, it is a good practice for accountability.

Harmony Place offers residential treatment programs for drug and alcohol addiction as well as co-occurring mental health disorders. For a private assessment and more information, call us today at: 1-855-652-9048

“the condition, state, or quality of being free or as free as possible from all flaws or defects”

Progress not perfection is a popular saying in recovery. The phrase is inspired by a sentence from “The Big Book” of Alcoholics Anonymous. In chapter 5, “How It Works” the authors list the twelve steps and comment how many people will think the demands of the twelve steps are too much. Reassuring the readers not to be discouraged, the authors explain, “No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are not saints.” Recovery is not about becoming perfect. Many people falsely believe that quitting drinking and drug use will suddenly rectify their wrongs and turn them into more saintly people. The authors explain that isn’t the point. “The point is,” they describe, “that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principles we have set down are guides to progress.” Each of the twelve steps has a principle or a theme by which people in recovery who follow the AA/12 step doctrine integrate into their lives. Making a commitment to growth is the point of progress which is why the authors state, “We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.”

Perfection is an illusion. We may never be completely free or even free as possible from all flaws or defects, as the definition of perfection suggests. The idea of perfection creates too much pressure for us and encourages us to set our expectations for ourselves in recovery unmanageably high. High expectations lead to bitter and low disappointments, problematically, in ourselves. Our job in recovery is simple. We simply have to stay sober, one day at a time. Day by day we learn more ways to not pick up a drink or a drug, no matter what happens to us. As we learn and as we grow, we continue to progress. We may never be perfect, but we will always be progressing as long as we are willing to. With each small or large step of progress comes another step toward lifetime sobriety.

We believe in the right of self-determination at Harmony Place. You might have lost your capacity for your best thinking, but it isn’t gone. We welcome you where you are and work with you to get to where you want to be. Offering care beyond exception, our residential treatment programs for drug and alcohol addiction provide a full continuum of options from detox to transitional living. For information and a private consultation, call us today at 1-855-652-9048.

Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies recently published a piece of research which suggests that yoga could actually be dangerous, resulting in injury for at least 1 in 10 people who try it. Over 500 participants were tracked of the course of a year and just under 11% of them suffered a new musculoskeletal injury.

Yoga has gained an impressive amount of popularity in the United States and all over the world sparking a commodified spiritual revolution, which has gained a lot of criticism. Headlines were quick to jump all over the new statistic to indicate that all the fancy yoga poses might be a threat to health rather than a benefit. However, there were many details of the study which needed to be taken into consideration, as Forbes pointed out.

Firstly, the study produced results from just one single yoga studio. Today, yoga studios are about as populous as fast food restaurants, with at least one to two in every major shopping plaza, storefront, and are awhere a space could be turned into a yoga studio. The findings of one single yoga studio are insignificant compared to the dense population of yoga practitioners worldwide.

Second, less than a tenth of the participants fully completed the required documents for the study. This reduces the sample size for the study even more dramatically. Without accurate data, it is difficult to discern what might be a realistic experience with yoga.

Lastly, though the study indicated that the instructors were certified with the minimal required 200 hours of training, However, the study doesn’t identify the styles of yoga, the styles of the instructors, what kind of instruction was given, how experience instructors were post-200 hour trainings, and the numerous other variables which could have been taken into consideration.

Just about everything which is good for you can be bad for you in some way. Moreover, everyone reacts to things differently. Yoga practitioners with years under their belt can still develop cancers and diseases. Someone with no yoga experience can be healthy and fit as a fiddle. Yoga has a tremendous list of mental and physical health benefits which cannot be denied.

Tips for avoiding injury in yoga:

Continue to breathe

When you feel tired or sore, assume child’s pose

Don’t force yourself into poses your body isn’t ready for

Use modifiers to make a pose work for you

Never push your body through a pose that is causing you pain

When in doubt raise your hand and ask the instructor to give you guidance on your posture

Yoga can be an important part of the recovery process. Scientifically proven to increase well being in clients recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, Harmony Place includes yoga as part of a holistic care plan. For a private assessment and more information, call us today at 1-855-652-9048.

Positive things feel so much better than negative things. We always feel better when we act on our positive habits rather than our negative habits. In fact, it can be almost shocking to discover just how much better it feels to do something good for ourselves instead of something bad for ourselves. It does also feel good to be bad. The brain actually notices negativity and negative behavior over positivity and positive behavior and latches onto it.

This is true of drug and alcohol addiction. Though pleasure and reward are a big part of the addiction cycle in the brain, the reward comes from negative behavior. Resentments, shame, guilt, stress, all of these negative factors influence and encourage addiction. Part of the reason stress management and emotional regulation are so heavily emphasized in treatment is to help the brain reduce the amount of negativity it focuses on, so it doesn’t trigger the negative habit of drinking and using.

Misery loves company. That’s why we often pick up more bad habits in addition to the ones we already have, making a collection of negative behaviors. Our motivation to change our habits won’t be effective if it is rooted in the fact that we have bad habits. Feeling bad about our habits, regretting what we do with our habits, hating our habits, fearing what will happen if we don’t stop participating in our bad habits- none of this will work. We have to, ironically, create a positive reason for our habits to change, in order to work against the negativity of bad habits.

Addicts and alcoholics in recovery know too well the struggle of creating a positive reason worth quitting the habit of drug and alcohol addiction. It’s a curious part of addiction. No matter how bad it gets, for many people, it still isn’t bad enough. We have to work hard to create meaning and purpose in life which keeps us from returning to our bad habit of addiction. Creating new habits through recovery and treatment is what helps us replace our old habits until our new habits are the norm.

It takes work to break the habit of addiction. At Harmony Place, you never have to do the work alone. Our full continuum of residential care will support you through every phase of your treatment for drug and alcohol addiction as well as any dual diagnosis issues. We provide care beyond exception so you can find your path in recovery. For a private consultation and more information, call us today: 1-855-652-9048

Post traumatic stress disorder does not happen to everyone who experiences trauma. It is possible to experience a traumatic event, even through a third person perspective, and develop some of the symptoms of trauma.

There are four categories into which the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder fall. One category, negative alterations symptoms, was recently added by to the DSM-V. The categories and symptoms are as follows.

Intrusion

Intrusive thoughts are common in many mental health disorders. Obsessive thinking about unwanted thoughts is unrelenting. For someone struggling with PTSD, these thoughts are often about the traumatic episode, playing the experience over and over again in their mind. The thoughts are sometimes subtle reminders or can manifest through full blown flashbacks and hallucinations. While the intrusive thoughts and symptoms are unwarranted, there is usually some kind of a trigger associated with it. Triggers for PTSD flashbacks can be as subtle as a date in the year, something someone says, a smell, or an auditory cue.

Avoidant

When you are living with unmanaged post traumatic stress disorder, you don’t feel like you can control the way that your PTSD is triggered. Without the tools and skills you need to effectively manage it and take care of yourself, you resort to the most basic of options, like avoiding as many triggers as possible. Avoiding people, places, sounds, smells, events, media, and anything that might trigger an episode of PTSD can make someone’s world small, which might enable other debilitating disorders accompanying PTSD. To cope with the loneliness and isolation, many people turn to drugs and alcohol.

Negative Alterations

This is the category new to the listing of symptoms for PTSD in the DSM-V. People with PTSD can have a blockage develop to the traumatic event itself. While they cannot remember the event or anything having to do with the event, they continue to experience the emotions of the event and live in the trauma ongoing.

Arousal

Hyperarousal is a common symptom in PTSD. Arousal symptoms are the way someone with PTSD seems on edge, looking for a sign that might trigger their trauma. Arousal is also a heightened state of emotions or energetic states.

You are capable of recovering from post traumatic stress disorder. Harmony Place wants to empower you in your ability to self-govern. Through emphasized personal therapy and scientifically based clinical methods, our residential treatment programs will help you transform mind, body, and spirit. For information, call us today at 1-855-652-9048.

Close your eyes. Focus on the breath. Let everything slip away. The incantations of meditation are intoxicating with a promise of emptying the mind and focusing on nothingness. That is a misconception many people have about meditation. “No-mind” meditation is a form of meditation, but only one form of meditation specific to certain disciplines like Zen. Many other forms of meditation include mindfulness in which the meditator simply focuses on acknowledging their thoughts and observing their thoughts, not trying to change or force their thoughts to stop. Getting distracted in meditation is normal. Meditation actually helps with distraction. In helping with distraction, meditation helps with stress.

A little extra stress couldn’t hurt anybody! In fact, stress is a number one harmer for people. Stress which is untreated and unmanaged can create illness, disease, and complication which can cause more illness, disease, and complication. For people who are recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, stress is a serious threat. After years of substance abuse, the brain is not able to handle stress because it has become reprogrammed to prefer feelings of pleasure instead. Any kind of stress feels like an immediate threat because feeling pleasure through drugs and alcohol has become a means of survival. In many ways, holding onto stress is a way to hold on to a reason to use drugs and alcohol. Refusing to let go of that extra bit of tension and pressure toward life is a secret way that many addicts and alcoholics harm themselves by not fully giving into their recovery. By continuing to hold onto stress, they think they are proving themselves more capable. Meditation is a tool for reducing stress and managing emotions. There is no better than or less than when it comes to stress and meditation. Meditation can often focus on removing the ego and becoming more connected universally. Trying to defeat stress without using scientifically proven tools is an ego-based practice- a sign such people need to meditate.

Harmony Place offers treatment beyond exception with luxury residential treatment programs and quality private care. Our full spectrum of treatment options can be catered to fit the needs of each individual client or provide a total step-down process for slowly transitioning into independence after addiction. For a private assessment or more information, call us today at: 1-855-652-9048

Approximately 40% of all people diagnosed with bipolar disorder are affected by specific biological damages which inhibit their decision to take their medication. That means just under 50% of people with a serious mental health disorder refuse to take their medication. For people with bipolar disorder, which is categorized by shifting moods of mania and depression, not taking medication can lead to severe consequences. Moods become more erratic, coping with moods becomes more challenging, and the moods themselves become more extreme.

Everyone has a baseline for their emotional functioning. It is normal for people to stray a little bit above and a little bit below that baseline experiencing heightened emotions and depressed emotions. People with bipolar disorder go far above and far below that baseline, having low periods of depression and heightened periods of mania. The constant switching of moods leaves an impact on the brain, which could lead to their decision not to continue taking medication. Research suggests that the specific parts of the brain which are affected by bipolar disorder could impair the ability to recognize the importance of taking medication.

This impairment has a scientific name- Anosognosia. This specific disorder is exclusive to people with mental illness and happens most frequently in people with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. Called “impaired awareness of illness” this condition creates a block between the reality of the illness one has, bipolar disorder, and the recognition of needing to take medication. Mania and depression can create a block to many realities. The severity of the symptoms in bipolar can be so extreme that an individual does not realize they are struggling with an episode of either. Refusing to take medication is common in episodes of mania in which someone feels so good and so heightened, they believe they will never be depressed again, and therefore do not have to take medication. Convinced that they have “snapped out of it” or didn’t have a problem to begin with, they abruptly stop taking their medication and refuse to take it anymore.

Not taking medication in bipolar is possible with a comprehensive skill set for managing emotions. Most often, however, psychopharmaceutical treatment is suggested. With the support of medications, you can learn to live with your bipolar in a sustainable way that helps you maintain your health and wellness.

Bipolar is often co-occurring with substance abuse. If you are struggling to manage your substance abuse and bipolar disorder, you are not alone. Harmony Place will meet you where you are and work with you to create your own goals for treatment and beyond. For a private assessment and more information on our programs, call us today: 1-855-652-9048

Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder which creates cycling episodes of mania and depression. There are two kinds of bipolar: bipolar I and bipolar II. In bipolar I, the manic stages tend to be severe with extremely high energy, causing someone to seem as though they are shifting their personality entirely. Bipolar II, however has a lower level of mania, called hypomania, which is a more subtle shift in personality, mood, and energy compared to depression. For people living with bipolar, it can feel like they never truly know who they are. Overtime one can learn the warning signs that a shift in personality is oncoming. Before therapy and treatment, however, it can be difficult to tell the signs, and the shift seems sudden. Transitioning from depression to manic and manic to depression is often tumultuous. Feeling out of control of your emotions, energy, and sense of self leads many people to abuse drugs and alcohol- turning to substances to cope with the overwhelming symptoms of depression or turning to substances to heighten the experience of mania.

Bipolar is a common mental health disorder: Approximately 5.7 million American adults are diagnosed with bipolar disorder every single year.

Bipolar can happen at any age: Many mental health disorders begin developing in adolescence and mature through teenagehood. Some don’t come fully into development until the twenties.

The average age of someone with bipolar disorder is 25 years old:The onset of bipolar can be surprising to people who were never treated for their symptoms in their younger years. Bipolar can also appear later in life during older decades.

Bipolar disorder is not discriminatory:Mental health disorders like bipolar do not happen exclusively to some people more than others. Bipolar can develop in anyone who has a predisposition to mental health or who experiences something in life which instigates the development of a mental disorder.

Bipolar might be hereditary:According to the National Institute of Mental Health, most people with bipolar disorder have a close relative with bipolar disorder or with major depression

We believe in your ability to choose for yourself and make good decisions in your life. Our dual diagnosis treatment programs are designed to empower clients in their right of self-determination, giving them the healing and skills they need to choose in their recovery. For a private assessment and more information on our residential treatment programs, call us today at: 1-855-652-9048